Cursed

From creators ¨Scream¨,bring us this ¨Cursed¨,a creepy terror movie that have you breathless.After an appointment with her boyfriend(Joshua Jackson), a publicist(Christina Ricci) along with his brother,a geeky high school student named Jimmy(Jesse Eisenberg) are going at home.But they have an accident against the occupant(Shannon Elizabeth) another car in Mulholland road,Hollywood,Los Angeles.An strange animal spontaneously bites to the driver and the brothers. Later they are developing an extraordinary force and aware themselves which there happened more than an accident and they have a terrible curse who cannot to control.Then they undergo a dental and hirsute transformation at the night and going on a murderous rampage every time the moon is full.They increased strength,heightened senses and unnatural sexual allure and they sprout hair and pointy ears,their hands have a five-pointed star like a pentagram,but it's the mark of the beast and pretty freaks occur them.They've been infected,there're cursed ,they've got to sever the line of the beast.They bear the marking of the beast,the only way to break the curse is to find the werewolf which attack them.The problem is how to kill the werewolf , no with silver but actually have to separate the head from the heart ,silver just hurts a lot.

The motion picture displays action,suspense,terror with fun touches and is quite amusing.It's a crossover with a little of the classic version Lon Chaney Werewolf,John Landis' Werewolf in London and Michael J Fox's Teenwolf and wrapped in a postmodern style.It's some different but with clear reference to previous films.The transformation of man into werewolf is complex and is made by computer generator FX,and a device under remote control ,thus the radio-control moves the eyes,ears,nose, lips werewolf ,besides an actor into the suit brings the life and of course a magnificent make up by the master Rick Baker and Greg Nicotero. The story contains various versions Nc 13 parents guide and Nc 17 with more or less gore.The famous screenwriter Kevin Williamson provided a well-knit plot with mystery and horror,giving full rein to Wes Craven natural talent for the terror genre.The film is dedicated to the producer movie Dan Arredondo.It's a standard terror and sometimes graphically gory and turns out to be an average attempt to cash in the werewolf sub-genre.

The very name of this movie seems all too appropriate. For all the reshoots, redesigns, and other creative decisions that were forced, and all the problems that hounded the production, it sounds like a horrid mess long before one ever sits to watch. Its reputation well precedes it, unfortunately, and still there comes a point where one just has to watch for themselves. To sit and do so, I'm not really sure that there was much chance of this coming out especially strong. I don't know what the dividing line is between the original vision and the rehashed material, and I don't know how much it matters. I think there are some terrific ideas here, some real cleverness - a little bit of the comedy earns a good laugh, some of the horror facets are well done - and I'm always up for a new werewolf movie. Yet so much of this film is heavy-handed, over the top, and maybe outright kitschy, such that whatever value 'Cursed' may have to offer, it's counterbalanced by many other qualities that are rather questionable.

The root concept of most notions here are fine. As in many genre flicks, the characters oscillate between struggling with the changes they're undergoing, and reveling in them, and that's a great dynamic to play with. The narrative is fundamentally strong, the dialogue is mostly just fine, and much of the characterizations and scene writing are splendid. Yet some of those rounding facets of the shooting script are nonetheless far less witty or humorous than they're intended to be, just frankly feeling cheap; other little details throughout, meant to help give shape to the end product, just don't come off well. Some choices even of hair or makeup raise a skeptical eyebrow, and select instances of cinematography are needlessly embellished. In execution some moments or decisions of direction are entirely too on the nose (even the opening scene), and others are altogether tiresome. And all this is to say nothing of the CGI. If only seen at a glance, the digital creations are okay. The more they are emphasized in a sequence, however, the more glaring and awful they appear, and this is never more true than when we get a detailed look at a transformation - to be honest, The Asylum has done better work. Even some blood and gore is transparently inauthentic.

Truthfully, this isn't altogether rotten. 'Cursed' is actually better than I thought it was going to be. The cast make an earnest effort, and it quite seems like they're having a good time for the most part. Judy Greer is especially having a blast, and Christina Ricci probably turns in the single best performance of the film. The end product is, to my surprise, modestly enjoyable. It's just so unfortunate that the movie overexerts itself in trying to be slick, cool, fun, and modern, when all it actually had to do was tell a compelling story. The harder it tries, the worse it fails, and it's almost certainly longer than it needed to be. For whatever aspects of horror or comedy are done well, at large these are not nearly sufficient enough to genuinely inculcate broad feelings of thrills or amusement. At length the result to greet us is a somewhat middling affair that constantly rides a line between welcome and boorish, and that occasionally places one foot on either side of that divide. I see what this could have been, but that's just not what we ultimately get. There are definitely worse things one could watch (Wes Craven himself has made some of them), but unless you're a diehard fan of someone involved, the need to check this out is minimal.

I went into "Cursed" with high expectations, I'll admit. But how could I resist the re-teaming of the "Scream" team, director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson? I should have known after re-shoots and delay upon delay of the film's release (It should have come out last November), that this would not be another masterpiece in the works. Though I tried to keep my hopes up, the results of this recombination are mixed at best.

Christina Ricci ("Monster") and Jessie Eisenberg ("Roger Dodger") star as siblings who are attacked by a mysterious animal in the Hollywood hills while trying to pull a woman from a wrecked car. Both are wounded by this animal and as the days go by, they begin to change. Eisenberg is most convincing as the younger brother who researches the animal that attacked them. He believes they were infected by a werewolf. The rest of the film chronicles their changes and quest to find the beast who infected them.

Aside from Ricci and Eisenberg the cast mainly consists of a smorgasbord of television actors, mostly from the WB. And I'm not sure that I'd call what they were doing acting. It seemed they mostly showed up and had a good time. Which can work, as long as the audience is enjoying it, too. However, I found myself groaning at much of the dialogue and wincing during emotional moments.

The film is slow to take off but does pick up the pace in the middle before falling off again towards the end. The computer graphics already look dated, and the werewolf makeup is most definitely sub par. A word to filmmakers everywhere, if you can't make a werewolf transformation look convincing, then don't show it at all. There's a lot to be said for implication.

Though there are several scenes where something pops up in the frame to make you jump in your seat, nothing haunts you as you leave the theater. There's no fear of bad dreams here.

Overall, the geniuses behind one of the classic fright films of the 90s (and possibly of all time) did not bring their best work into this decade. I hate to say it, but Wes Craven seems to be suffering from his own curse - the loss of fright.

For a smarter, more imaginative take on the werewolf theme, check out "Ginger Snaps" or "Dog Soldiers."

I did not expect much, and while the film is not great or anything, I was very entertained. I enjoyed the performances, some of the dialogue was clever and funny. I wanted more gore, but I did like the film a good amount. It did not take itself as seriously as I thought it would, so that was a good thing. I also very much expected a twist ending, or it to end unhappily, but surprise, surprise, it ended happily. I do not know why the film was as critically-bombed as it was, I expect trashy, cheesy, but fun films like these to get at least mixed reviews (like Jennifer's Body). But I very much enjoyed this film, and I expect it to age well with time (as comedic, trashy films like these most of the times do).

'Cursed' has already earned a place in Hollywood history for it's infamous production problems. Massive re-shoots (rumored up to 75% of the movie), recasts, rewrites, over a year of delays, basically any and everything that could possibly go wrong. Pass this off as credit to Craven as a director and Williamson as a writer that they were still able to pull off something of a fun movie.

A pair of siblings are bitten by a werewolf following a car crash that leaves one woman dead. Amidst their sudden development of new powers they must contend with the traumas the curse brings. Discovering that the only way to lift the curse is to kill the cause of the infection, they must now find out whom the beast is.

On the evolutionary ladder of Craven's films, this is above 'Shocker', below 'Scream', right about on par with 'People Under the Strairs'. Meaning there is some good, gory fun to be had if one doesn't take it too seriously. Those in the market for some blood and laughs ought to have a fine time.

What hurts so much about this, and is the source of much of the films bashing, is that it could have been so much better. While the talents involved worked hard to salvage as much as they could it still feels like an overall missed opportunity. The scares are OK, but not great; the jokes are OK, but not great; the pacing is OK, but not great; noticing a pattern? Technically it's a mixed bag. Great, energetic camera work with some lively stunt work adds a lot of energy, but on/off pacing slows things down again. Characters and scenarios are OK, but dialogue lacks pizazz. And while there is some good gore being tossed around, the creature itself never looks all that believable (neither in CG or costume incarnations).

In the end this is not the ultimate failure fan-boys have tried to pass it off as; time will be kind to Craven's unfortunate child and horror fans should too.

7/10 (Note: review based on R-rated version of film)